Reporting to C Squad
by Gokai Yellow
Summary: When 7 completely different individuals arrive at the Academy, they had no idea what their futures lay ahead for them at SPD. All characters property of me, blackspaceranger, Takeru, Y2j1915, and Alpha5 of Ranger Crew.
1. Chapter 1

Everything Changed (Logan Dex)

Normal is a big understatement to how my day was going at that moment. My sister Kailey and I were out for a fun day before she headed off to SPD Academy in two days. Sure it sounds normal, but it was just Kailey looking at the street shops while I kept my eyes glued to the pavement. Even though I wasn't looking at the store clerks, many of them bored their eyes into me, some whispering that I was probably a follower of Satan, possessed, or had a terrible case of pink eye. Well I hated to break it to them, but none of those were correct; I was unlucky enough to be born with blood red irises in the sea of white that made up my eyes. People in school shied away from me because of it, convinced that I must have been evil or something completely inhuman. Which is quite an archaic instance of racism in this day and age, where cat-human hybrids, cyborgs, aliens, and whatnot walk alongside human beings. Great huh?

Kailey thanked a store vendor for letting her look and she said we could start walking again. Thank goodness for he was scratching his bald head at the mishmash sight of my sister and me.

"Logs," she began, "I know your eyes still bother you. But honestly, you shouldn't let it get you down."

I shrugged as I kicked a bottle nearby. "But you're normal, Ley," I replied slowly, "Something went wrong when Mom and Dad had me. I just know it. And you've seen how Mom tries not to cry whenever she looks at her youngest daughter."

Kailey shook her head and disagreed with me. She was pretty with green-blue eyes and mahogany brown hair. I was a disaster with red eyes, frizzy mud-brown hair, and pale skin. Some dweeby kid in kindergarden called me a Bloodsucker Bat because of these physical traits. And it didn't help that many vampire literature works described these figures like so.

"Ley what am I going to do without you?" I asked her woefully.

Kailey put on a brave smile and reassured me that everything was going to be okay. "Besides," she added, "I'll be here in town-its not like I'm moving to Siberia for heavens sake! I'm sure you can write me letters and maybe visit once in a while. It's going to be great, trust me."

I nodded happily, for once. Kailey had applied to be a new recruit at the SPD Academy and had gotten in, beating hundreds of applicants for a spot in the latest group. After several forms, payment fees, packing, and double-checking, she was set to go for Orientation in two days. Once she left, it would be just me in the house until a few more years of high school. Dad seemed to think that college could be my next step while Mom thought I was probably going to work as an assistant sensei at the local karate dojo I went to. So in short, my future was looking pretty futile in terms of earth-shattering and life-changing like Kailey's.

"You know what Logs," Kailey spoke up all of a sudden, "I'll buy you something. Look around and if anything catches your eye, I'll buy it for you as a sort of good-bye but not really good-bye present. How does that sound?"

I brightened a little at her words and lifted my eyes from the cracked portions of the pavement to the window displays of fashion, trinkets, and whatnot. But then, that's when I saw it reflected in the window of a shop following us. I stopped short, scared a little and Kailey caught up with me.

"Logs what is it?" she asked worriedly as she brushed away a strand of hair.

Then it cackled from behind us, making us turn around to face it. Kailey's eyes hardened and she took a defensive stance.

"Stay behind me Logs," she ordered me urgently as she raised her fists. "Who are you?"

The monster held up its arm and scanned Kailey all of a sudden. "Kailey Dex. Just accepted to SPD Academy. Training: first black belt," it mechanically noted.

Kailey stared back, stunned for the creature had just revealed her stats in less than five seconds. Then the creature summoned Krybots from out of nowhere and directed them to fight me. As the goons rushed toward me, the monster approached Kailey who was still shocked by what it had known.

I thanked my lucky stars that Mom had let me enroll in karate too as a young girl for it proved quite useful when battling the Krybots. It was easy to duck under them then attack because they moved slower than me. One of them tried to grab my arm but found itself being punched roughly and then stumbling backwards, thanks to a direct kick in the chest. As the swarm of Krybots began to dwindle down, I spotted Kailey trying to fight the monster, dodging its attacks with ease. That is until it caught Kailey by the arm and threw her back several feet.

She screamed as she flew back toward a brick wall, a loud cracking sound hanging in the air after the impact. I gritted my teeth and did about the stupidest, most spur-of-the-moment thing ever: I ran as fast as I could toward that thing and gave it my best tornado kick. The monster stumbled back a few feet, clearly surprised by the amount of strength I had. Then it aimed a beam of light at me, sending me flying toward my sister. I managed to land on an old springy couch near the dumpster, with less injury than Kailey. I coughed heavily and gasped for air.

I looked around for Kailey and gasped in horror as she was unconscious and sitting against the wall limply. I struggled to my feet but found myself falling again. I cursed my luck and grimaced as the creature walked slowly over to where I was lying. Then, that pounding sensation began to settle in and I closed my eyes as I tried to ignore the painful throbbing in my head. My vision flickered before my eyes from clear to faint. And the last thing I saw was a flash of silver light to my left.


	2. Chapter 2

Radio Man (Jake)

"Good morning, good morning gang!" I greeted the listeners as I settled into my plush chair at the mic. "It's a beautiful day and we're back with more hit jams and your questions. Got a favorite song? Request it! Have a question? Hit me with it! So call in - I wanna hear from you!"

I quickly slotted a song in as Ty signaled to me the number of calls I had waiting for me. He mouthed the number 45 to me and I took a deep breath. It was going to be tough trying to whittle down the calls again since I didn't have as much airtime today as usual. Christopher, my boss, was trying to rearrange the shows around for a mini experiment and had moved one of my co-workers to Tuesday morning at 10 instead of her usual Sunday night gig.

"There's a girl on line 9," Ty whispered to me as he stuck his head into the booth. "She sounds interesting - do you want to talk to her?"

"That's cool," I replied as I drummed my fingers on the table in front of me. The last guitar riffs echoed in the air as the song came to a close.

"All right guys," I announced, "That was Kira Ford with Freak You Out just now. Great hit huh? And we have our first caller of the day on line 9. Hello?"

There was a pause then I heard a girl's nervous voice answer.

"Hhi Jake," she replied, "I'm Dana and I was calling to ask you something."

"Ask away Dana," I confidently replied as I leaned back in my chair.

"Well, my dad just cut me off financially," she answered slowly, "I'm really scared since my job's kinda sucky and I'm not in a position to rent a place of my own now. I was wondering, what's your life like? I mean, your family and stuff."

I froze at her words. My family. Well, what about it? What was there to say about them? I cleared my throat and began answering her question.

"Well, actually Dana," I replied slowly, "I grew up in a upper class home where my parents were gone most of the time. It was my grandfather who opened my mind to world around me."

I could hear her breathing heavily on the other end. "And, and do you keep in contact with your family?" she asked. "I mean, do they support you financially still?"

"Uh no," I answered quickly. "I'm just doing my job here at the station to pay the bills." I glanced over at Ty who was signaling to me to wrap it up. I nodded over at him and turned back to the mic.

"Well thank you Dana for your call," I replied. "I hope things work out for you. And we have a caller on line 3. Hi there!"

"So far so good," Ty told me as I went on commercial break. "You handled that first one quite well. Seems like she was hoping that your family might offer to help her out."

I shook my head at him and disagreed. She wouldn't want my help or my family's help for that matter. I was the wrong person to be asking for that kind of help.

So who am I? My name is Jake Johnson III, son and second heir to the Johnson Defense Systems Corp. As a little kid I was raised by hired staff and nannies because my parents were always away on a business transaction. The company had offered protection systems for several wealthy and prominent clients which is why they were gone all the time. Granddad seemed to sense that I wasn't interested in the business or was cut out for it for that matter. Yet he didn't seem to be upset by any means, rather he suggested that once I became of age, that I go out of the wealthy class neighborhood and into the real world. Funny thing is, Mom and Dad don't even know that I'm gone from the house.

The radio station had fallen on hard times before I came in, since radio seemed to be so old school and not as cool as it used to be. It was lacking energy and good spirit, which is probably why Christopher hired me after hearing me talk about myself at the interview. Pretty soon, radio was back and running with more shows and interested people like me running them. But at the same time, something seemed to be missing.

Ty broke into my thoughts and handed me a sturdy flyer. "This is an advertisement you have to read," he reported. "Some police academy of the sort. And you have 2 more minutes buddy."

I thanked him and watched as he walked off to grab his usual grape soda for the 10 AM session. I sighed deeply before standing up from my seat out in the hall and heading back in.

A police academy huh? I thought. But why?


	3. Chapter 3

Hiatus Over (Haruto)

"Attention ladies and gentlemen," the flight attendant's soothing voice announced, "Will you please stow your personal electronic devices in your carry-on and put your seats in an upright position..."

I sat up straighter in my seat and drummed my fingers on the armrest, anxiously awaiting for landing. I had already tuned out the message that the flight attendant was saying since I had heard it several times in many languages on different airlines. And here I was, Haruto Adonis, finally ending the three year hiatus away from home in NeoUSA.

"Sir, could you please put your tray up?" a flight attendant asked me all of a sudden, "We're about to land in about two or three minutes."

I smiled apologetically at her as I quickly put my tray up. She thanked me before moving on to another row with an elderly woman asleep in a reclined position.

My stomach churned a little at the thought of coming back to the very place where it all began. Back to the city where they worked. Back to the place where they...died.

I left NeoUSA after turning 14 to escape the nightmare that every child dreads - their parents dying before they do. My dad worked for the SPD Academy as a high ranking employee that was trained to protect the city from the threat of danger, particularly Emperor Grumm. He met my mom when he was sent to Japan to take out a Grumm henchman that was planning to infiltrate the Japanese government and destroy the emperor lineage. They married and started their new life in NeoUSA but died from a hired hit man's attack. He came close to killing me until members of the B-Squad SPD team kicked in the front door and cornered the hit man, who had been sent courtesy of Emperor Grumm.

I sighed deeply as the plane hit the ground with a forceful thud, sending me forward toward my upturned tray. I hated landings as they were getting pretty rough lately with every flight I took. I tried to block out the squeals of my neighbor seated to my right who was calling someone she knew.

"OMG! Just landed Brad!" she nearly screamed into the phone, "I can't wait to see you too! Oh...oh no you didn't have to get me anything!"

For once, I wished I had someone waiting for my return. Ha, yeah right. Commander Cruger is the one who suggested that I take some time away from my surroundings and see the world. He said I had far too much anger in me to join the very academy that my dad had worked for at only 14. I could bet you anything that he wouldn't be waiting for me at the airport. Come to think of it, he probably had forgotten all about me at this point since the big news that anyone seemed to care about was the recent disappearance of the A-Squad, SPD's top police force team.

"Where can I pick up my suitcases?" I asked the flight attendant on the way out of the aircraft.

She thought about it and quickly checked with her co-workers. "Should be on the first floor on either the third or fifth luggage pick-up carousel."

I thanked her as I exited the plane and began the long, lonely walk to the luggage pick-up area. Families around me greeted loved ones and children ran toward their mothers and fathers who just arrived. I forced myself to keep going, find my suitcases, and just hail a taxi cab to take me to the SPD Academy in the downtown area.

"Haruto? Haruto Adonis?" a voice called to me suddenly.

I turned around and blinked as I spotted Boom, a tech wiz who worked alongside Doctor Kat Manx at SPD. Boom ran up and crushed me in a tight hug. Even at that, I had to smile a little because it was kind of nice to see Boom again. He was a little clumsy and sometimes random but he was a great guy in general.

He let go of me and studied me carefully. "You're no longer the little squirt who was yelling at Cruger for sending him away!" he commented, "Geez, look at you! I'm sure girls have been throwing themselves at you now, aren't they?"

I reddened a little at his words and mumbled that they weren't paying any attention to me. Boom snorted as he pointed to a group of attractive British girls who were looking at me. They met my eyes and suddenly giggled as they turned away to start talking about something.

"Told you so," he gloated as he nudged me in the arm, "Where's your bags - I can grab them for you." He walked over to the carousel and began watching for the two black and white suitcases.

"Boom," I began curiously, "What are you doing here?"


	4. Chapter 4

Second Life (Drake)

"Back again?" a prison mate sneered as I was pushed forcefully toward a cell in the back.

I ignored the prisoner and held my head down to avoid locking eyes with any of this crowd. I wasn't in the mood to deal with a pack of jeering punks since it was already bad enough that the Academy's best figure was the one bringing me in. Yep.

"Drake Akiyama," Sky Tate mused after he shoved me into a cell and locked the door. He gestured to Syd to bring the chip that contained my criminal record while he kept an eye on me. Syd ran off to find the data chip while Sky turned to face me.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is your fifth time serving in the SPD Jail," Sky noted as he accepted the chip placed into his hand. He turned to face Syd but discovered it was Z who handed him the chip.

"I thought Syd was getting the chip," he asked Z.

"She was summoned by Cruger to cover a training session as she got to the archives," Z replied. "She sent me in her place. Problem with that Sky?"

"No, no problem at all," he muttered as he plugged the data chip into his handheld computer. In a flash, my records were brought up.

"Violence against civilians, gang crimes, petty activity," Sky read off.

I rolled my eyes at him. He sounded like such a prick reading off my crimes. It seriously made me want to hurl at how smug he sounded.

"And we'll add another gang crime to your records," he replied as he keyed in the information. He waited for the data to register my newest crime and it returned a sentence term to him. "Looks like that's going to be 3 years in confinement. You're lucky it isn't deletion."

"Can't I take the freaking deletion instead?" I sourly replied.

Sky shook his head no and ejected the chip from his device. He handed it back to Z and instructed her to return it to the archives. She followed his command but looked over her shoulder at me sympathetically as she walked away. I pretended I didn't see it.

"Now with your attitude," Sky began. "It won't speed your time in confinement any faster. If you happen to show improvement in the next few weeks, the sentence could be shortened."

I sank down on my prison bed and hung my head. 3 years? He couldn't be serious. My last sentence was only 4 months at tops and I was let out for good behavior. But 3 years?

"Are you sorry for what you did?" Sky asked me.

I bit back my tongue to keep from saying something incredibly rude and idiotic. I swallowed hard and flatly replied, "I didn't choose to be a criminal with 5 strikes against him, you know. I hung out with the wrong crowd and thought I was fitting in."

Sky snorted as he folded his arms across his chest. "That's the same loaded excuse I hear from every troubled person who ends up in here," he replied. "If you didn't want to be this way, then why are you back here again?"

I didn't feeling like answering and I knew he was waiting to hear one. Then I heard her voice again.

"Putting him through your moral talk isn't the best solution," Z stated as she rejoined him outside of my cell.

Sky frowned at her and shook his head at her words. "Z, you can't be defending every single person who is troubled," he reminded her. "It's our job to keep the city safe."

"Commander Cruger took a chance on me," Z replied as she took a step toward him. "I was him. I was just like him and I almost sat in that cell. But you know what, Cruger saw potential in me."

She turned to face me and continued talking to Sky. "He has great defensive skills," she told him. "Why not let him put those to good use and actually have him train to use them for good?"

Sky opened his mouth to speak but closed it when he heard Commander Cruger say, "I agree with Delgado. He has potential and it would be a waste to let him sit there to deteriorate."

The two officers stood up straight as their superior approached. They saluted him and he told them to continue as they were.

Commander Cruger approached my cell and held his hands behind his back.

"Young man," he began solemnly.

I took it as a sign to stand up straight like the two officers had and act respectful.

"As you were," he replied. "If I was to change your sentence to a rehabilitation session with one of our top SPD employees, would you be willing to change yourself for good?"

I swallowed hard as I looked over at Z's kind face, Sky's irritated one, and Commander Cruger's questioning one. To me, anything would be better than this cell. I had picked up my fight skills thanks to my uncle training me at a young age. However, my fighting skills were noticed by gang types who wanted me to help them with their activities. Not that they could do any real damage to me, but I felt compelled to join them, mainly to be accepted. Now 5 crimes later, who was really helping me out? No one.

"Well young man?" Commander Cruger inquired.

"Sir, I would like that very much."


	5. Chapter 5

Flashbacks (Ada)

"Students," Sky addressed the class. "Here is the scenario: You're walking down the street when all of sudden you see a huge blast blow several papers and damaged books out the broken window of a bookshop. You look closer to see that it is a group of Krybots along with one of Grumm's monsters. He has a civilian gripped in his fist and holds her hostage. What is the best way to solve this situation?"

I shot my hand up first. Behind me I could hear all of the jokers snickering in the background. Typical.

"Yes Ada?"

"It would be best to show the monster your badge to warn them they are dealing with SPD," I began. "If the monster is undeterred, you call for back-up and attempt to use a diversion to aid the citizen to safety."

Brody, a slacker student, guffawed, probably at my answer.

"That's what a wuss would do!" he retorted. "If I was fighting, I'd put a couple of bullets in that Grumm monster and kick the Krybots back to the little manufacturing plant they came from."

His friends high-fived him and I sank lower in my seat. Sky tapped his fingers on the desk, waiting for order to be restored. When it didn't one minute later, he dropped a a heavy manual on his desk to get the class focused once more.

"Brody, your solution is the reckless and risker choice," Sky reminded him. "If a bullet hits the hostage, then its all over and SPD would have a right to strip you of your badge."

Brody's face fell and I felt a small pang of hope. Sky turned to me and addressed me.

"Your answer is correct Ada," he replied. "It is the safest way to guarantee the victim's safety as well as build team discipline. We can't go out there alone and fight Grumm one-to-one. It takes teamwork to take evil like him down."

I brightened at his praise and sat up straighter. Maybe this class wasn't so bad after all.

"Way to go Miss Know-It-All," Brody grumbled to me after class. "Have you ever thought about shutting up for once instead of automatically going to raise your hand to answer a question?"

I opened my mouth to say something back but came up with nothing. Then Sky rescued me by pulling Brody aside to talk about his attitude needing improvement.

"Keep it up and you might get sent to Commander Cruger," Sky warned him as he led Brody down the hall. "And he'll throw you out, plain and simple."

I silently thanked Sky behind his retreating form and I slumped against the nearby wall. This was the 13th time that Brody had been mean to me about coming prepared to class. Well, what did he want me to do - be completely ignorant like he was?

Brody wasn't the first person to make fun of me. As a kid I was bullied for various reasons like being the 'Smarty-Pants' or for being orphaned as a baby. It really hurt to hear those things and I was convinced that I would never have a friend.

Finally, Elena, my adoptive sister, stood up for me one day. She hadn't known that I was being bullied until we had Gym class together in middle school. There had been a girl who was insulting me for being the worst student in Gym. Elena had heard the girl and punched her square in the nose which landed her in Detention. But from that day on, she offered me her support and sisterly love.

The sound of Commander Cruger making an announcement about updates to the system happening in 10 minutes startled me out of my reverie. I began walking back to my room in the Academy resident quarters to drop my books off before class.

I missed Elena these days. I had applied to SPD and was accepted this past spring. Elena had been held back a year in school and couldn't apply yet which meant she was still taking classes near home.

I should text or call her soon, see how she's doing, I thought as I passed Syd talking to Z.


	6. Chapter 6

Want Out of Here (Treymax)

"Make sure to check the circuitry on those Zords," Quentin, my boss, told me.

"Uh Chief?" I said. "These are A-Squad's Zords."

"So?"

"Why do they need to be cleaned if Commander Cruger declared them MIA?" I asked as I brushed a strand of blonde hair away from my eyes.

Quentin folded his arms across his chest and stared sternly at me. "Treymax," he warned, "this is serious. Even if Commander has said that, there's still hope that they may turn up any time. And we need to be ready for them should they return. Got it?"

I nodded as I busied myself with the rag in my hand. This was the 7th time I was on Zord clean-up for the A-Squad. Even before they went MIA, they managed to wreck their Zords and leave a laborious task ahead of me to fix them up good as new before the next fight.

Quentin put a hand on my shoulder and looked down at me. "Listen son," he said, "I know this is grunt work, believe me I know. But whether you know it or not, I'm sure Commander Cruger appreciates the hard work you've put in on A-Squad's Zords. Otherwise, they could have gone down in battle thanks to glitches."

"Yeah," I muttered.

Commander Cruger probably didn't even know who I was since there were hundreds if not thousands of people who worked for SPD or who were constantly joining the network. I was part of a fairly recent batch of recruits that were serving on SPD's D-Squad which was Ground Zero in the Academy. Everyone started there from the A-Squad to members like Sky and Sophie. Much of our work was tech-based and clean-up duties for the A and B squads. Come to think of it, I hadn't met anyone who called themselves a C-Squad rank.

Quentin left me alone to work and I sighed as I faced another long day of hammering out dents, repainting the Zords, and checking for broken controls.

"Can't believe we have firing range practice," Brody grumbled as he walked by the Zord garage. He was a D-Squad member who came in 6 months ahead of me and hadn't made much progress.

I pretended to be busy with a new container of metal polish as his crew walked by, complaining about the practice the entire time. As soon as the last of his cronies had passed, I stuck my head out into the hall. Quentin had not returned since he must have been on lunch break or was talking to another member on staff about his encounters with Krybots.

Seeing that none of my superiors were around, I dropped the polish rag onto the work table and wiped my hands onto my mechanic uniform.

Sorry Quentin, I thought, I can't stay here in Zord clean-up forever.


	7. Chapter 7

I Want to Go Back to the Way it Was (Elena)

"That's it for today class," Mr. Quail told us. "Please read Chapter 11 on chemical bonds and bring an example of a chemical bond, either a picture or the real thing, to class on Thursday."

I watched with amusement as my classmates made a mad dash for the door. Chemistry to most of the students in my class was a snoozefest unless it happened to be lab day. For me, I just happened to like mixing things together, period.

"Hey Elena!" my friend Perry greeted me. "What's shaking?"

"The contents of that test tube that Mr. Quail used for a demonstration," I shot back wittily.

Perry burst into laughter and clapped me on the shoulder. "Nice one. So are you going to the soccer team's frozen yogurt fundraiser tonight?"

I scrunched up my nose and made a face. "No chance, Perry," I replied. "I've got work today and its a double shift. My boss needed me to cover for the co-manager since she's on maternity leave."

"Bummer," he groaned. "Well then, I guess its just me going to get a brain freeze then I get to suffer the pains of Statistics homework. Later!" He took off for his car but skidded to a stop and ran back toward me.

"Hey, do you want a ride to work?" he asked me. "I know that your parents didn't get you a car or anything yet so..."

"No I'm cool," I replied as I began heading toward the plaza where my work place was. "Don't freeze your brain too much. Otherwise, I won't know how to thaw it out."

Perry howled in laughter and I just smiled to myself as I began the 3 mile walk to work.

"Hey friend," Fiona greeted me. She drummed her French manicured nails on the counter before stifling a yawn. I tied my apron on and secured my hair into a hair tie.

"Another day of fake bourgeois cafe dining," she joked to me. "We've got the tea! The coffee! The pastries that every sweet tooth craves! All that's missing is Paris!"

"Seriously, Fi, seriously, " I laughed. "If Joanna heard you, you'd be so busted! This place is supposed to be her dream of bringing that kind of fancy atmosphere to the US."

Fiona shrugged at me and she glanced at the clock. "The rush won't be here for a while any ways. So pretty much, we're free as birds to talk until that bell on the door rings." She ran a hand through her auburn hair and looked around as the people walking by.

"How's your older sister?" she asked.

"Um," I stalled. "Good I guess. I haven't talked to her lately - she said that her workload and training is getting more intense."

"Probably good thing though," Fiona remarked. "You can only go up from there if you're where she is."

"Yeah," I said.

The sound of the bell tinkling signaled the entrance of our usual patrons. Fiona smoothed a wrinkle out of her apron and told me that she had the register covered.

"You okay with brewing the coffee and drinks?" she asked me.

I flashed her an ok and she nodded before taking the order of the woman in line. I walked into the kitchen and began grinding the coffee beans.

My sister aka Ada Kavanagh. She was only a year older than me and was adopted after I was born. Mom and Dad applauded her on her academic achievements but they were blissfully unaware of the pain she received as a result of getting those positive achievements. She was first bullied before I ever entered school. Mom saw that her knees were scraped and her bag was muddy but simply assumed that Ada must have tripped in a puddle. I was too young to understand bullying at the time.

Years went by and we ended up in some extracurriculars together. It was then I decided to speak up for Ada because I had gotten sick of Amy acting like a prick. Boy, was everyone surprised that a younger student could have the guts to punch one of the older, popular girls in the face.

"Hey Elena! One espresso and a green tea please!" Fiona called to me.

I snapped out of my trance and quickly apologized as I poured hot water from the kettle on the stove into a teapot. I reached into the cupboard above and removed a single green tea bag, placing it on a tray with the teapot, cup and saucer, and additional tea stuffs.

"We're just brewing fresh espresso and coffee!" I apologized to the customer. "It should be ready in a minute or two."

Fiona took the tray from me and carried it over to the table. I ran back to the kitchen to check on the state of the coffee. It was slowly dripping into the container, barely filling it 1/3 of the way. I added a scoop of the grinds I made and added them to the espresso French press.

I hadn't talked to Ada in almost 3 weeks. The last time I contacted her, she was studying for a big exam and didn't have much time to talk. She sounded tired and tried to reassure me that everything was well, just busy. She dodged the question of whether everyone was a bit more friendly there instead of public school and insisted that she needed to go.

Finally, the coffee maker sounded and I pulled the pot off the maker. The espresso finished pressing a few drops before it stopped too. I added a container of milk and individual sugars to a tray and passed that off to Fiona. She thanked me and quickly said that a berry salad was ordered next.

The refrigerator was opened and I scanned the shelves for the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Maybe I should text her soon, I thought. It's been too long.


	8. Chapter 8

When Destiny Calls You, You Must Be Strong (Logan)

"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep!"

The sound of hospital equipment brought me back to reality. Someone must have brought me and Kailey to the hospital. My eyes opened slowly and I sat up, letting my eyes adjust to the scene around me. I looked down to see my arm was in a sling but no cast. My fingers reached up and rubbed the wide gauze bandage around my head. Nothing seemed broken but just I felt sore all over. Then again, I did land on an old couch that someone tossed.

I turned my head to look for Kailey, who was lying beside me. She hadn't come to yet but the battle took a toll on her body. She had cuts and bruises on her arms and face. Her neck was covered in a thick cushioned brace and both of her arms were in plaster casts.

"She will be all right," a voice said.

I turned around and saw a tall dog or jackal figure dressed in a SPD uniform approaching me. Kailey had told me a little about him when she received her acceptance letter to SPD. My mom had gotten a kick out of the fact that for a canine, he wrote pretty well. Dad then argued with her that she was sounding old-fashioned and ignorant since the current society is mixed with humans and creatures.

"Are you...Commander Cruger?" I asked him.

"Yes I am," he replied. "You're quite a spirited fighter, aren't you?"

"Actually...it was really stupidity that made me run and attack the monster," I mumbled. "Nothing really heroic though."

He coughed and straightened up. "I'm afraid that she will be here for a month or so," he announced. "Unfortunately, she will not be able to attend the Orientation for new SPD recruits."

I stared back with alarm. "Commander," I pleaded, "you have to give her a chance! She's waited her life to help SPD out. Can't you consider letting her in still?"

"Logs?" Kailey murmured as she came to.

I pulled back the covers of my hospital bed and slipped my feet into hospital slippers. "You're awake!" I cried out as I ran to her bedside.

Kailey feebly reached her fingertips out to touch my hand on the bed. She looked tired and worn, a state I had rarely ever seen her in.

"Commander Cruger is right Logs," she said. "I can't participate in Orientation like this. And there's no chance that I'm going to heal very quickly."

"Which is why I've decided to extend the letter of acceptance to you Logan," Commander Cruger announced. "Normally we do not accept trainees who are younger than 18 but in this case, it is an exception. So, will you join the SPD Academy in place of your sister?"

I stared at him, completely dumbfounded. There had to be some mistake for he had probably seen how reckless I was in trying to defend my sister back there. Sure, I had the same martial arts training but it didn't mean that I was any SPD potential candidate. Not by a long shot. I opened my mouth to decline when I heard Kailey speak up.

"I say that you should Logs," she said. "Listen, I know its scary to think about but I know you'll do great there. And you'll be surrounded by several intelligent figures who work there, humans and non-humans. You won't have to worry about sticking out there. There have to be people like you in there that are there for a good reason."

I let out the breath I had been holding in while my sister spoke. I couldn't believe that I was allowing myself to say this but I told him, "Commander, I accept your offer."


	9. Chapter 9

This Place Isn't For Me (Jake)

"A police academy huh?" I murmured as I skimmed through the handout.

Want to become part of the largest and most successful police academy of today? SPD is looking for recruits to join its new class of trainees. Whether you are a technology whiz or fighting extraordinaire, we want you!

"Uh you're on in 1 minute man," Ty interrupted me.

I scrambled to my feet and strode back into the booth. I settled into my cushy chair as Ty gave me the countdown until I was on air. 3, 2, 1, GO.

"Welcome back friends!" I blared. "Before we get back to the music, I have a few announcements I'd like to make." I shuffled through the advertisement sheets and read off an opening day ad for a retro record store, a close-out sale for used technology parts, and finally, I read off the SPD ad.

"...So if you're looking for an exciting career with a stellar program known worldwide, go ahead and apply," I concluded.

Ty gave me a thumbs up and mentioned that we had a call come in for a request. I motioned to him to put it through.

"Hey what's up? You're on right now," I greeted the caller.

"Sup Jake?" a guy's voice answered, "Was wondering if you could play that Cassie Chan song All I Really Need."

"Sure thing brother," I told him as I added it to the line-up. "Is this for a special someone or just because?"

"I'd like to dedicate this to my girlfriend of 6 years Wendy," the guy replied.

"Well Wendy if you're out there," I began, "this one's for you from a special someone." I set it up to start playing and the sound of acoustic guitar filled the booth. I leaned back in my seat and picked up the ad sheet again, flipping to the one on the SPD academy.

I wasn't a fighter by any shot but maybe, maybe this was something worth trying. It's not like I had lost interest in the radio show but it felt limited in what I could do to help others out around me.

I sat up straighter and saw that Ty had his head bent down as he tried to monitor calls from incoming listeners. I knew that if I bolted now, he'd freak out since dealing with hundreds if not thousands of callers at a time could be really stressful.

"Great show today," Ty said as I exited the booth.

"Thanks Ty," I replied, "hey listen, I'm thinking about quitting today."

He blinked in shock and then broke out in laughter.

"Very funny Jake," he howled, "I know you like to make jokes to keep conflict out of the situation but seriously, you don't need that now!"

I shoved my hands in my pockets and stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh man you're serious?"

"Yes I am," I replied.

"So what are you going to do now?" Ty asked he leaned against the wall. "You're not going to go back to the way things were before you came here, right?"

I snorted at his words. Why would I? It would be the same woeful cycle of lonely dinners at the long dining room table, airdropped presents from my parents on holidays, and constant worrying from the servants. Besides, I had tried to distance myself from that life for good.

"No uh, I'm going to apply for that SPD academy," I said.

"Is this about your whole 'I wanna help the world out' quest?" he asked.

"Pretty much," I said.

Ty ran a hand through his long, surfer style locks. "You know that chief is going to have a real hard time letting you just walk without any complaints," he warned me, "he's going to try offering you different hours, more money-"

"I know, I know," I sighed, "but I need to find a new outlet. And this academy might just be the thing I'm looking for."

He patted me on the shoulder and looked at me with disappointment in his eyes. "Take care man," he told me. "I guess I'll see you when you get Cadet of the Year there."

"Sure, I guess," I mumbled before I headed to see Chief. As I walked down the long hallway toward his office door, I took a deep breath. This was going to be a long, long discussion in his office.


	10. Chapter 10

**Finally Part of SPD (Haruto)**

"Wait until Commander Cruger gets a look at you," Boom remarked as we entered the academy headquarters, "He'll be amazed to see how fast that angry little punk years ago grew up!"

I smiled a little at Boom's words and hoped that it wouldn't turn into a mushy family reunion moment. In Commander's case, he wouldn't even try to evoke that feeling, unless something changed for him. Boom pressed the up button for the elevator and the doors opened. We stepped inside and he chose the 4th floor where Commander Cruger's office was.

"So...Commander sent you to pick me up?" I asked.

He nodded as he crossed his arms over his chest. "It was either he send me or Bridge," he replied. "But Bridge had a conflict with a test he was administering for the absent recruits so I got to go."

I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked up at the ceiling.

"Do you know why he wants to see me?"

He shook his head no and gave me a shrug of the shoulders.

"He just told me to get you to the academy safely and immediately," Boom replied.

Boom made a mock bow at the entrance to Cruger's office. I snorted in laughter as I walked in and quickly put on a serious expression. I straightened up and stood before his desk stoically.

"Commander, you wished to see me?" I asked.

He turned his chair around and nodded. "As you were Adonis," he replied, "have a seat." He offered me a chair and I settled into it. Boom saluted him and excused himself to continue work on the technology upgrades.

Cruger pulled up a data chip and inserted it into his scanner/reader device. He punched in a password and my information was brought up.

"It's been a while since I last saw you Adonis," he noted. "How were your travels?"

"Excellent Commander," I replied. "I feel like I've learned a lot more from these travels. It certainly opened up my mind to how the rest of world works and thinks."

Cruger put down the reader and folded his hands on his desk. It shut off automatically and ejected the chip. However, he ignored it and looked at me instead.

"I certainly can see a big difference in the adolescent I held back as he tried to chase after the criminal and the young man seated in front of me now," he remarked.

"I would like to hope that I changed for the better Commander," I said.

Commander removed the data chip from the reader and returned it to my file. He spotted Z walking by and stopped her.

"This can be returned to the civilian archives," he informed her as he handed her my file.

She saluted him and gave me an encouraging smile and pat on the shoulder before she left.

"So Commander," I began, "I am under the impression that this is not just a social call to see how I'm doing."

"Indeed Adonis," he said, "I am in the process of assembling the C-Squad team together. As you may remember, the rank was inactive since we had not found any qualified individuals who were ready for a higher position at the time. Since then, the rank had been put on hold because of the spectacular work our A-Squad did."

He paused to let his words sink in.

"However, A-Squad has been declared missing in action after we sent them out on their last mission," he continued, "we have lost communication with them and I've been given no other choice to but to activate the B-Squad as new Rangers and begin the assembly of our C-Squad rank team."

"And the current figures of the D-Squad Commander?"

"None of which are prepared for more responsibility," he replied in a clipped tone. He leaned in close and stared me directly in the eye.

"I am offering you an opportunity to immediately assume the C-Squad rank as you train here," he stated. "Unfortunately, I am unsure of whether this could result in C-Squad also attaining Ranger powers and weapons as well as who else will possibly become your teammates."

I swallowed hard and felt my heart beat a little faster. He had said the magic words for that day I was stopped by him as a kid, I wanted to become part of SPD. At the time, it was only out of anger had I wanted to join. But did this mean I was to become the automatic leader of the C-Squad?

"I cannot assign leadership responsibilities right now," he broke into my thoughts. "But I feel you are much more prepared for the higher rank than time with the D-Squad. Will you accept?"

Okay, so maybe not a leader but I wasn't complaining. I could not be any happier skipping the D-Squad rank since very few people in there took the training seriously. Some of the 'recruits' who had joined years ago, continued to stay in D-Squad because of their lack of commitment or skills. And why would I want to pass this up?

I extended my hand and Commander Cruger shook it.

"Commander, I accept," I replied. "You won't regret this, I promise."


	11. Chapter 11

Your Journey Starts Right Now (Drake)

My bloodstained and ripped clothes were tossed into a trash bin and Sky grudgingly shoved me toward the locker room for a shower. I could hear him whistling obnoxiously as he waited for me to finish up. I was tempted to drag it out and really tick him off but decided against it. Besides, what if Cruger decided to have him watch me as a test?

"So uh, why is my uniform just the standard grey and black?" I asked Commander Cruger once I changed into the crisp SPD uniform.

"Every recruit begins in a uniform like this," he stated, "I do not assign colors and ranks until I'm able to assess your abilities and work ethic. And there are individuals who may not meet the requirements to become a Ranger."

"Oh."

He continued to walk through crowds of SPD workers and I was forced to keep up at a brisk walk or lose him altogether. Then, he stopped at a lab where SPD employees were testing weapon materials and defense mechanisms.

"Kingsley, could I see you for a minute?" he asked as he stuck his head in.

A blonde put down her tools and removed her protective goggles before walking out of the laboratory to meet us. She assumed a formal stance like all of the other SPD members had done.

"Commander?" she said.

"As you were Kingsley," he replied, "I'm reactivating your Ranger status so you can train Akiyama here." He gestured to me and I stood up a little straighter and put a pleasant smile on my face.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Drake," I said as I extended my hand.

She shook it and smiled back. "Melody. Nice to meet you too."

She turned back to Commander Cruger and addressed him, "Sir, is there a specific reason why I'm working with a specific recruit?"

Commander Cruger sighed and ran a hand through the hairs on his head. "He's...a reformed criminal we've had in for a while," he explained, "Delgado put in a request to see him doing more than just wasting away in the prison cell. But I'm trusting him to you since I don't trust him around our D-Squad recruits."

I felt insulted at that last part. What did he mean that he didn't trust me around the D-Squad recruits?

"If he gets out of line, I want you to notify me immediately," he continued, "you have a good sense of judgment and I believe that perhaps you will have a better chance turning him around than I will. Will you accept?"

"I promise Commander," she replied, "you can count on me."

He nodded and coughed before excusing himself to something else important. I shoved my hands in my pockets and we looked around at the scenery for a while.

"So uh...you were a Ranger?" I asked.

She nodded as she removed her hair tie. "I was A-Squad White," she replied.

I did a double take since I didn't recollect a White Ranger on the A-Squad team. Obviously, I must have reacted like many had before and she shrugged it off.

"Don't worry about it," she said, "I was only with the team for a short period of time. Then the leadership started to get to me and it coincided with a minor injury so I took it as a chance to gracefully leave the team. I probably was with the team for only about 3 years and that was around the time of the inception of the A-Squad Rangers."

"Was there a Black A-Squad too?" I asked.

"No just me and the rest of the standard colors," she chuckled. "Would have made perfect sense to have done that but whatever."

"So uh, what brought you to this department? I doubt that Cruger let you come here very willingly," I prompted.

She groaned as she scrunched up her nose. I guess remembering the exchange between the two was not great to store in your memory bank.

"He thought that I was reacting to the injury instead of the team and wanted me to get right back to work after I healed," she recollected, "but it just so happens that his superior, Superintendent Fowler, actually sided with me and Commander was stuck obeying his superior's orders."

"Wait a second - Cruger has someone above him?"

"Yes Superintendent Fowler," Melody said, "he's a bird so another creature as an authority figure here at SPD. Cruger absolutely hates it when Superintendent Fowler shows up unannounced. He calls his superior 'That Stuffed Bird' behind his back."

I snickered at the thought of it. It made perfect sense to me since Cruger wasn't a type to take orders, or so I thought from how he acted toward the two B-Squad members.

Melody slipped off her white lab coat and quickly returned on a hook in the lab. Then her advisor stepped out into the hall.

"So Commander reinstated you?" he asked her.

She looked at me then back at him.

"It sure looks that way."


	12. Chapter 12

Ready or Not? (Ada)

"Glad to know I'm not the only one that has to talk to Commander about her," Syd told Sky as they rode the elevator up to Commander Cruger's office.

Sky smiled proudly as he gripped the data chip on Ada Kavanagh in his hand. There was no way that Commander Cruger could turn down his and Syd's request to advance Ada to a higher rank, right?

"Hmmm..." Commander Cruger mused as he brought up Ada's data. He flipped through the pages on her personal history and mused out loud. "Ada Kavanagh, age 18, adopted by Kavanagh family as a youth, ah yes I remember her."

Syd raised her eyebrow in surprise at his words which resulted in Sky nervously nudging Syd to stop making a surprised face at their superior.

"It's quite all right Tate," he told Sky, "It was a perfectly normal reaction for Drew to have. I came across Ada after she walked home with a group of youths taunting her. What I found interesting about her was the fact that she tried to keep a smile on her face even though she was being insulted by these youths."

He leaned back in his seat and sighed.

"I'm not surprised about her work ethic," he continued, "it seemed to me like she was going to push forward despite the hardships placed before her. Out of curiosity, is everyone being respectful towards her?"

Sky looked at Syd and tried not to cringe. He didn't know if Syd's class contained any troublesome students who were mean to Ada but his certainly did.

Sky cleared his throat and carefully tried to word his response to his superior. "Commander, unfortunately, I have a group of individuals that torment Ada about her preparedness for my class," he told him, "one of them is an...extended D-Squad studies case named Brody Jensen."

"Actually, there is another individual aside from Brody that has been giving her trouble in my class," Syd added.

Sky blinked as he stared at Syd and she shrugged. She felt it was best to tell the truth rather than sugar-coat it for Commander Cruger.

"A Tracy Gibbons throws these childish, paper balls at her during my class," Syd continued. "I've given him several punishments but that hasn't deterred him from stopping, unfortunately."

"I see," Commander Cruger replied. He looked around at his office before addressing the two B-Squad Rangers again.

"And you wanted me to do what for her?" he inquired.

"Commander, despite these childish acts from other students," Sky began, "Syd and I see potential in Ada to achieve the Ranger status or at least a change to C-Squad."

Commander Cruger coughed and began rummaging through his drawers. Syd and Sky watched him, anxiously waiting to see if he would accept or deny their request.

"Her data does not mention anything about her skills in the battlefront," Cruger said. "Personally, I would be concerned about upgrading a recruit to Ranger status if they did not have a background with battle scenarios."

He straightened up and folded his hands across his desk.

"Judging from her data, I would feel better if I advanced her to work in Advanced Technology and Weaponry with Dr. Kat Manx and Boom."

Sky wished he could protest but he didn't dare upset his superior.

"Sir, is it possible to test Ada and judge from her test whether she is capable of handling Ranger duties?" Syd bravely asked.

Cruger stood up from his desk and nodded.

"I'd suggest having her take Delgado's class and/or having one of you or Landors tutor her privately," he replied. "But until she undergoes the class or training, my answer stands as is."


	13. Chapter 13

Much More Than a Glorified Janitor (Treymax)

So far so good. No one had stopped me in the hallways for sneaking out of the workroom and I hadn't seen Quentin emerge magically from out of nowhere.

I joined a crush of D-Squad recruits going to Firing Range Practice 101 and followed them to the outside area where several targets had been set up around the practice field.

"Everyone grab some ear mufflers, a gun, goggles, and a protective vest," Jack announced to the group once we arrived.

I rushed to grab everything in case there happened to be only a set number of equipment laid out for just the class. To my relief, there were several leftover items and I could hear Jack muttering curses to those who decided to skip out today.

Hope he doesn't call me out for sneaking into his class, I thought as I fell into the line of students awaiting his instructions.

He walked in front of us and gestured to the targets. "This isn't a regular stand still and shoot practice today," he announced, "this time, we're moving around. These targets contain fake Krybots hiding behind some of them. The goal is to shoot as many targets and Krybots without getting hit too much. This will be run for 20 minutes. Everyone ready?"

"Yes Jack," everyone echoed back.

He held up a timer and counted down to zero before pressing the timer start button.

I dodged a Krybot's gun and crouched low to shoot it in the chest. It staggered back and fell dramatically to the ground. I aimed for the target beside the fallen Krybot and made a bull's-eye. In a matter of seconds, I jumped up and ran past Brody who was struggling with a Krybot's attack.

This is pretty easy, I thought as I shot at more Krybots in the simulated exercise. My confidence grew as I shot at more targets and Krybots. Since there were so many people in this practice class, there was a slim chance that anyone would recognize me with the tinted goggles and vest on moving so quickly. Pretty soon, the 20 minutes flew by and I heard Jack call time.

"Excellent work recruits," Sky told the group as he joined Jack. "Make sure to put all the equipment back where you found it before you leave for lunch. And for those of you who are still struggling, feel free to come and talk to either Jack or me for extra help."

The class scattered in different directions as some huddled up to complain about how sore they were, others to put away their gear, and the rest trying to study the practice set up from today. I joined the others putting away their gear and removed the goggles from my eyes.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and Sky's voice say, "Pretty impressive job there recruit."

I had tensed up when he first gripped my shoulder, fearful that I had been busted for sneaking into a class.

"Oh uh, thanks," I replied as I removed my vest.

"What's your name?" Sky asked me.

"Treymax Al Lungunda," I answered, "I'm actually not in this class during this time Sir. But please don't punish me for it! I just wanted to test my skills."

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble," Jack added as he joined us. "Where are you normally during this time?"

"On Zord clean-up for the A-Squad," I answered.

Both B-Squad members made faces at those words. I'm guessing that the A-Squad were not their favorite group to deal with.

"It will take a while to do this," Sky warned me, "but if I was able to convince Commander Cruger, how would you like to move up from the D-Squad and start training like the Rangers?"

I blinked in surprise. I had to be dreaming for they were saying some very magical words to me. Getting out of Zord clean-up would be a godsend honestly.

"Sky, Jack," I replied, "I'd like that very much.


	14. Chapter 14

This Close to a Panic Switch (Elena)

"Another day at a fancy French cafe," I muttered as I tied my apron behind my waist. I quickly tucked a strand of short, dark hair behind my ear before I grabbed a cleaning rag to wipe down tables.

"Here's the cleaning spray," Fiona announced as she plunked the squirt bottle on the counter next to me. "Thank goodness Mary will be back tomorrow to help out. It feels like eternity since she went on maternity leave."

I picked up the bottle and walked over to one of the tables by the windows. "No kidding," I replied, "we need our second mom back!"

Fiona chuckled as she tied her apron and began taking the usual order of one of our customers. I turned my back to them and clicked the bottle trigger to let a steady stream of cleaning spray land on the marble surface. Then I dragged the rag quickly across the top, polishing it back to its glistening state. I stood up and studied my handiwork, proud of my accomplishment.

"Really? When was this?" Fiona gasped as she made small talk with one of our usual patrons.

I was cleaning the last table when I caught their conversation.

"A week or so ago," the customer replied. "One of Grumm's monsters injured a recent SPD recruit! Poor thing is probably in bad shape that she can't train with the rest of the group."

At those words I froze and my breathing stopped. However, I continued to clean the table top, this time, working more slowly than before.

"Do you know who it was?" Fiona inquired.

"I'm afraid not, dearie," the customer said.

I shut my eyes as I continued to clean the table in slow, circular motions. It couldn't be, no way. Was my sister? Was that why I hadn't heard from her lately? And if so, was she ashamed that this had happened and decided to cut off all communication with her family, embarrassed to let them know that she couldn't train? I became lost in thought for a while until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see it was Fiona who gave me a concerned look.

"You don't know it was her Elena," she said. "It could have been someone else, you know."

I sighed as I straightened up and threw the rag down on the table. "But what if it is her?" I demanded. "I'm worried about her okay? It's been almost 2 months since I've heard from her."

Fiona opened her mouth to reply but closed it when she heard the bell on the door tinkle.

"You should probably stop cleaning that table or else it might disintegrate from being cleaned too much," she joked as she walked behind the counter. "I know I'd hate being over cleaned if I was that table."

I smiled a little at her joke and she winked at me before taking the next customer's order.

"Nurse, is my neck all right if I bend it to drink soup?" a girl asked the woman standing next to her.

"How does it feel today Kailey?" she asked.

"Better but a bit tender still," Kailey replied.

"I think it should be all right, as long as you don't bend it all the way down toward your chest," the nurse said.

"Okay then," Kailey said, "I'll have a cup of French onion soup with a raspberry iced tea please."

I carried the cleaning supplies to the back cabinet where we kept them, curiously looking at the pair that had come in. The girl named Kailey had a neck brace on and her left arm was in a cast. Her dark hair fell awkwardly around her neck brace and her chin was propped on top of the brace edge.

"What happened?" Fiona asked as she handed their change back.

The nurse almost spoke up, probably to scold Fiona for being so nosy about a patient, when Kailey rested her free hand on the nurse's arm.

"Nurse, its quite all right," she told her companion. She turned to face Fiona and replied, "I was spending time with my younger sister before I left for Orientation at the SPD Academy when a monster attacked us. Some how, it knew facts about my protection skills and sent me flying against a wall. I then woke up in the hospital like this and had to pass my scholarship onto my sister."

"Wow...what a shame," Fiona replied while shooting me a look.

I nodded sympathetically as I began preparing their drinks. Secretly, I was relieved that it wasn't Ada but at the same time, this poor girl had gone though much pain and to lose her scholarship altogether?

"My co-worker, Elena here," Fiona began, "knows someone at SPD who was recruited fairly recently. Hey, how long has your sister been there?"

"Um...almost 10 months now," I replied as I set the drinks on a tray and carried them out to their table. "Here you are. And I brought creme and sugar for your coffee."

The nurse thanked me for her cup while Kailey stared at me. I gave her a polite smile and asked her if she needed something else before I brought her soup out. Before she could respond, a loud beeper went off and the nurse removed it from her belt to check it.

"Oh dear," she muttered. "Kailey, there's an emergency with your hospital neighbor George. I need to go tend to him, will you be all right here for a while?"

"Yes, don't worry," she reassured her.

The nurse smiled at her and quickly exited the cafe in the direction of the hospital three blocks away. Kailey turned to face me and beckoned me to join her. I looked anxiously over Fiona, who gave me a thumbs up, saying I was covered.

"So your name is Kailey?" I asked as I took a seat across from her.

"Yes Kailey Dex," she replied. "Elena right?"

"Elena Kavanagh, one and only," I jokingly answered.

Kailey laughed a little at my goofy introduction and smiled for the first time she set foot in here.

"You have a sister too?" she asked.

"Yeah, her name is Ada," I said. "She's a year older than me. What about your sister?"

"She's almost 17," she replied. "Her name's Logan, would Ada happen to know her?"

"Uh...probably not," I said. "Ada never talked much about the people who were SPD recruits like her."

Kailey leaned back in her seat and picked up her glass. She moved the straw toward her mouth and leaned forward slightly to take a sip. I smiled pleasantly at her and leaned my elbows on the table, bracing myself for an interesting conversation ahead.


	15. Chapter 15

Fight For Your Right (Logan)

"Today's the day, I can just feel it!" an older guy boasted to a group of his friends.

"What's the day for?" one of his dweeby followers asked.

The guy snorted in disgust at his friend and shook his head at his friend for missing the point. "Today's the day I'll get to move up from this loser section called D-Squad and take one step closer toward B-Squad!"

Normally I would have chosen to stay out of this mess but his comment made me crease my brows. Either he was too chicken to apply himself for A-Squad or he knew that he wasn't capable of making it.

"Don't you mean A-Squad?" I spoke up all of a sudden.

This resulted in the older guy and his cronies turning their heads to see who spoke. Once he zeroed in on me, he snickered loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. "I see we have a clueless newbie here! Well didn't you hear the news? A-Squad's been missing for almost 2 months Newbie – the way its looking with them, B-Squad might be the highest rank left!"

The news hit me but it didn't register across my face. I had no idea that A-Squad was missing but then again, the news was probably confidential except for those who were working inside SPD. I shrugged my shoulders and feigned disinterest.

"Oh my mistake, I thought that you were too wussy to apply yourself for something as high as A-Squad," I threw back.

The guy strode up to me in literally 5 steps at my comment and was in my face. "Say that again Newbie," he growled at me.

I glared at him and clenched my hands into fists as we locked eyes, determined to stand my ground. I didn't care if this guy was bigger or older than me – I had enough skills under my belt to give him a few bruises for getting in my face.

"Good morning recruits!" a voice said from behind us.

I broke my gaze with the loser in front of me to see one of the B-Squad ranked members coming toward us. He wore a similar uniform to the one I was in, only his had a stripe of green on the chest and green trim. He clapped his gloved hands together and rubbed them enthusiastically.

"So today, we decided to move the test up to today," he announced.

Some of the recruits groaned loudly and others kept their cool, probably convinced that this would be cake. I kept my face in its emotionless state but inside I was concerned. A test? Already? And it was only my first day along with some others, none of them I had interacted with yet. I scanned the faces of my classmates to gauge the reactions. Yep, most of them looked nervous and were whispering to the people standing next to them, probably asking how they were going to do. Except for one guy standing a few feet to my left, who had his fist clenched and a determined look on his face. I studied it closely, expecting to see an air of cockiness like that loser I squared off against a few seconds ago. But instead of a haughty glint and overconfident smile on his face, this boy had a hopeful smile on his face and blue eyes shining with excited determination. Well, whatever. He could be psyched for this or not. Better than having 2 cocky idiots in the same class.

"Here are the details," a woman announced as she joined the man in green. She wore a similar uniform, only hers had yellow accents. "Hang on, Bridge did you introduce us yet?"

The man in green slapped his head in realization and the woman shook her head at him. She turned back to us with a warm smile and a small wave. "Well welcome new recruits and current D-Squad members, I'm Z and this is Bridge. We're your instructors for Field Training and we're B-Squad SPD officials. Now I'm sure you just heard that Bridge mentioned the test is today instead of 2 weeks from today?"

Everyone nodded and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Well here's how its going to work. You see the box over there? After I explain all the rules, we'll take you in there and you'll be set into a virtual street battle against Krybots. These aren't real ones but projections that will act and fight like the real ones. Your job is to take out the Krybots in 10 minutes without severely injuring yourselves. Clear?"

"Yes Z," the class answered.

Z looked at Bridge and he beckoned the class to follow him into the box. People shuffled in single file and I ended up in the middle of the pack. Once we were all in, Z closed the door behind her and turned to a keypad on the wall. She removed an ID card from her pocket and held it up for the keypad to scan it. The keypad beeped and she quickly typed in a code before putting the ID card back into her pocket. Her thumb hovered over the keypad and she looked at all of us.

"Ready recruits?" she asked.

"Yes Z," the class replied.

Z pressed the bottom button on the keypad, which launched the simulation. The metal walls of the box faded away and transformed into a rooftop setting. Many of the recruits looked around in surprise and began commenting on the change of scenery. That changed as soon as we heard the whirring sounds of machinery and suddenly, hordes of Krybots were climbing up the rooftop and lunging for us.

Wasting no time, I made a mad dash toward one of them and slammed my fist into its chest. It staggered back and landed on top of two more of its comrades. But I had no time to admire my handiwork, for another one grabbed me from behind and I angrily jabbed my elbow into his chest while kicking another heading for me. The one holding me let go and I spun into a tornado kick to take out the group headed for me.

I paid little attention to the rest of my class at first until I came to a brief stop after I kicked a Krybot back and made it fall off the rooftop. I turned around to see some of the female recruits screaming as some of the other Krybots grabbed them and threw them into some unsuspecting male recruits. Others tried to launch an attack on a Krybot but either didn't apply enough force or didn't know what they were doing at all. Humorously, the loser who was in my face was trying to persuade 2 Krybots to let go of him while a third one punched him hard in the chest. Really? Really? That was pathetic – no way would B-Squad take him, let alone C-Squad, if there was one.

I ducked under the arms of one Krybot and brushed past one of the recruits, which turned out to be the determined one standing nearby me before the test. He flipped one Krybot with ease and picked it up by its feet, swinging it around in a circle, then let it go, watching as it flew into a trio of them. It was too funny to watch and I let a smile break across my face as I watched this happen.

Then the rooftop disappeared and we were back in the metal confines of the box once again. Some of the recruits rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren't dreaming and others were standing up, dusting themselves off, and trying to look less ridiculous. Bridge and Z walked toward us, both looked unhappy.

"Well, its apparent that most of you need to practice more," Bridge noted. "Especially the old recruits...hang on I got that wrong, I meant D-Squad members. Wait, Z what is-"

"Veteran members, I'm disappointed at your progress in this test," Z cut him off. "Many of you have been in the program for 2 years and the lack of training shows. As for the new recruits, we apologize for throwing you into a text right off the bat. We're happy to work with you if you want any extra help and we'll cover tactics in class on Wednesday."

She looked at me and gave me a proud smile. "Congratulations to the young lady over here -"

"And the young man here," Bridge added as he put his arm around the guy who sent the Krybot flying into the others. "Excellent work in today's test. What are your names?"

"Logan Dex," I spoke up.

"Treymax Lungunda," the guy replied.

Z clapped her hands and the class slowly began to follow suit. I shrugged modestly and tried to smile to look grateful. But I could tell that most of the class already hated my and this guy's guts for being overachievers on Day 1. Joy...

Bridge called everyone to attention and dismissed class, reminding everyone to practice and show up on Wednesday on time. I waited until the rest of the class began leaving for their other classes and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around to meet the blue eyes of my fellow superstar and he smiled at me.

"Great work back there! You study some kind of martial arts?" he asked me.

"Yeah...they were just classes at the local dojo by home though," I said. "You?"

"Er actually, I trained a lot on my own," he said as he ran a hand through his blonde locks of hair. He stuck his hand out and introduced himself, "I'm Treymax Al Lungunda. What's your name again?"

I took his hand and shook it. "Logan Dex. Um...do you have a nickname by any chance?"

Treymax laughed as he dropped my hand. "Yeah its a mouthful, I know. Trey is good or Max. Do you have some kind of nickname you'd rather have me call you?"

"Logan's okay with me. Or if you really want to, Logs or Dex works," I replied. "You wanna ace this place?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me," he replied as we walked out of the box and headed for our next class.


	16. Chapter 16

Make 'Em Laugh (Jake)

"Yeah this is more like it," I said as I stretched my arms up as I walked out of my third class. It was the farthest thing from being in front of a mic and being known on the airwaves but I was up for anything. So far I had learned in-field combat skills, first aid for victims, and crime scene investigation. I looked around the halls and watched as cadets and higher ranked officials moved rapidly to their next destinations. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned to face one of my new classmates whose name I was blanking on at the moment. She tucked a strand of her short blonde wavy hair behind her ear and wrapped her fingers around bag strap.

"Sorry if this sounds stupid," she began, "but were you on the radio as a DJ for a while?"

"Uh yes, yes I was," I replied. "I was on the 10:30 AM slot. It was music and advice."

My classmate's smile widened and she tilted her head slightly. "I knew it! The voice was very familiar but I wasn't sure."

"Oh really? You reco-"

"Thanks a ton Newbie!" a voice from behind me snarled.

I whirled around, thinking the comment was directed toward me. Instead, it was a bigger SPD student who was yelling at a small girl who was walking with another recruit. The girl whirled around and stared up at the bigger student.

"Well I'm sorry, Brody is it?" she said, "but its not my fault that you were so ill prepared for class today. Besides you've been in D Squad longer than I have, according to the teachers!"

I watched as Brody stuck his face in hers and yelled that it was none of her business about his time in D Squad. The girl shot back that if she cared, she would have shown more sympathy, but naturally, she didn't care about him. The other recruit who was with the girl looked haplessly around as he tried to find someone who could help him break it up. At one point, he tried to calmly intervene between the two, only to get shoved to the floor by Brody. The girl snarled at him for pushing this guy, Trey or something, and to quit being the king of the place.

"That's Brody," my classmate quietly told me. "He keeps failing his exams and isn't very good at combat which is why he's still in D Squad as a "recruit" instead of being placed in another field like the other recruits."

"Does he always pick on the new ones?" I asked her.

She nodded and stared over at the scene unfolding. "I'm guessing its because he's upset for being so terrible and failing everything," she said, "I heard that he has no family and Cruger accepted him to the program to build character. So far...that hasn't happened."

I turned toward my classmate and gave her a polite smile. "Will you excuse me please? I'm going to see if I can't ease the tension here." Before she could stop me from going over, I straightened my shoulders and strode over to the pair who were arguing. I addressed the larger student, Brody first.

"Hey man! Do you like music?" I asked him.

Brody stepped away from the girl and whirled toward me. "Listen dweeb, I'm in the middle of something," he said harshly.

"Well I can tell that you're tense man," I replied. "And music is a great cure to ease that tension. Classes rough on you? Is it because the teachers don't get you?"

Brody blinked and stood up straighter at my questions. "Yeah, yeah you're right," he said. "How did you know?"

I shrugged my shoulders and told him it was his stance and the tension in his knuckle veins that said it. "Music's a great thing and I think I know the right artist for you," I added as I dug around in my bag. I removed a CD with Ron Wasserman written on it and handed it to him.

"Here's a CD of Ron Wasserman's stuff," I said as he took it. "Great guitar riffs and drums that can either pump you up or are great for workouts."

Brody looked over the CD and turned it around in his hands. Then he extended his hand out to me and I shook it.

"All right then," he said. "I'll take a listen and let you know what you think. Thanks for the recommendation."

"No problem," I said, "Usually its better to find other outlets to relieve anger, tension, and stress than other people, you know?"

Brody looked over at the girl who was staring at us curiously, wondering what was happening. He turned toward her and stood up straight as he cleared his throat.

"Sorry Newbie – er Logan was it?" he began. "I've been in the D Squad for a long time and it doesn't come naturally to me."

She looked bewildered at his sudden attitude change but quietly murmured that his apology was accepted. I looked over and smiled proudly at my handiwork, wondering if my classmate was still there watching to see how even the tough guys could be good ones deep down. I looked over my shoulder to see she was gone though – probably in a rush to get to class. Oh well.

Brody thanked me again for the CD as he clapped a hand on my shoulder and bid all us goodbye as he headed for his next class. The boy who was with the girl was dusting himself off and he stared after Brody's retreating form.

"Well that was unexpected," he murmured. "You should have seen these two before class – they didn't know each other and were this close to actually getting into a physical fight."

The girl shrugged it off and turned to face me. "Well thanks for getting me out of that pickle," she said. "Last thing I need is to get kicked out of here for a stupid fight between another recruit. And...I kinda need to stay in for good reasons."

"Hey its no problem," I replied. "So what's your name?"

The girl gestured to herself then to the boy standing next to her as she said, "I'm Logan and this is Treymax. Just call him Trey. Yours?"

"I'm Jake, nice to meet both of you," I said as we all shook hands amongst each other. I checked my watch and saw that I had a few more minutes before my next class. This began a chain reaction of Logan checking her schedule to see that she had lunch next and Trey realizing he had class too.

"Are you both new to SPD?" I asked them as we headed to the heart of the SPD headquarters.

Trey shook his head no and told me that he was in the program for about year now. "I was on Zord clean-up for A Squad," he said. "Not exactly fun stuff when they were always...using them roughly every battle. I just recently was granted permission to begin in-field training and combat skills."

"I'm new," Logan replied. "I'm...actually attending here on my sister's scholarship because she's injured long term and couldn't come to orientation as she's in critical condition. But Commander Cruger passed the scholarship onto me and thought it would be a good learning experience for me. How about you?"

"Yeah this is going to sound weird, but you sound familiar," Trey added. "I'm talking about your voice sounding familiar but we've never met before."

I shoved my hands in my pockets and slowed down as we reached the center, which branches off in various directions to different wings and rooms of the center. "Uh yeah, well I was a DJ on the 10:30 AM advice and music show," I replied. "I recently decided to make the switch since it sounded interesting and different, you know?"

Trey extended his hand to me and we shook hands again. "Well welcome to the SPD family Jake," he said. "Hope we can all make something of ourselves while we're here."

"Yeah thanks," I said. "Same to both of you."

A buzzer sounded, alerting everyone who was a student to get to class in 5 minutes. Logan headed for the cafeteria, Trey walked off toward a classroom, and I wandered down a corridor to find the in-field training area.

Soon I was joined by other students who knew where they were going and I followed them in the same direction, only to stop short at the sight of a girl standing against the wall. She was kneading her hands together and pacing slowly for a few repetitions before leaning against the wall and looking up at the ceiling. Everyone else was streaming past her but I stayed behind and waited for everyone to go on ahead of me.

I stepped closer to her and cleared my throat.


	17. Chapter 17

Reunion (Haruto)

"No! Is that really?!" a girl said in awe.

I turned around to see a girl with her sandy hair in pigtails running towards me and she crushed me in a hug. I crinkled my eyebrows as I tried to jog my memory. Did I know her somewhere?

The girl pulled away from me and noticed my puzzled expression. She grinned widely at me before punching me in the arm. Ouch. ...Wait a second, only one person who was capable of...

"I can see that you're a little lost," the girl broke into my thoughts. "It's been some years but, uh remember who tried to fix your cuts with Scooby-Doo band-aids?"

"Sophie?" I asked her as it all started coming back to me.

She nodded and her pigtails bounced with her. "Yup! Little did I know that I'd be here at SPD too."

"I wish I had known sooner," I replied as I met her eyes. "Maybe I could have come back sooner."

Boom strolled in and waved at me. He looked over at Sophie and me and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Am I interrupting something big here? Cause if I am, then I can always catch up with you later Haru."

Sophie shook her head no and motioned for Boom to join us. "I was about to head to lunch now," she said. "How about both of you? Maybe we can grab lunch together and catch up, you know?"

"Sounds good to me," I said. "Boomster, you in?"

"Perfect. I was starting to think about taking a break," Boom said. He nodded his head in the direction of the cafeteria and began leading the way over. We followed him into the cafeteria and picked up trays before entering the long line.

Boom picked up a few bags of chips, a sandwich there, and an apple after the lunch lady glared at his "healthy" choices on his tray. Sophie selected an Asian salad with sesame seed dressing and filled a bowl with several scoops of brightly colored berries. I picked up a plate of penne with marinara and a fruit salad. My hand dug around in my pants pocket for my wallet containing my SPD ID card as I approached the register. Sophie swiped her card and went to find Boom while I handed off my card to the cashier, who punched the items in and swiped my card silently.

Boom had picked a table by the windows looking out over the city. Sophie added lemon to her water and Boom cracked open his soda bottle, which fizzed violently and exploded light brown foam from the top. People sitting near us snickered and I couldn't help but grin a little too. Typical Boom. The poor guy had dreams of being a Ranger, only he lacked the fighting skills needed to be one. He worked alongside Dr. Manx and tested many of the gadgets ever since he flunked his cadet exams. Aside from the serious stuff, he tended to be a goofball that had some slight mishaps occur.

"So Boomster, how are your parents?" I asked as I stabbed a grape and pineapple chunk with my fork.

The moment I said 'parents', Boom's shoulders sagged and he quickly began to clean up his mess from the soda explosion. As he dabbed away the stuff with napkins, he replied, "Yeah its been a while since we last talked," he mumbled. "I sort of want it to stay that way."

"Why's that?" Sophie asked.

Boom looked up from cleaning up the soda mess and flushed red. "They, uh, they think I'm actually a Ranger," he said.

I swallowed hard and winced as I wiped berry juice from my mouth. It wasn't just Boom who dreamed of being a Ranger – his parents had high hopes for him when he got his scholarship to the Academy.

"You've got to be honest with them," Sophie said encouragingly. "Did you just say you were a Ranger and kept it at that? ...I'm guessing that your expression is saying no."

"Which color?" I asked.

"Orange," he said. "I said I was A-Squad Orange."

Sophie gasped and put down her fork. I grimaced as I leaned closer to talk.

"Boom, you might have been safer not giving a rank too," I hissed. "Besides, your parents have probably seen A-Squad on television sometimes. They are going to notice that there's no Orange A-Squad Ranger."

Boom closed his eyes and squeezed them shut as he continued. "I, uh, said I was on hiatus. But when I will come back, I'll be helping B-Squad since, uh, well you know..."

Sophie sighed deeply and shook her head. I rumpled my hair and looked toward the ceiling. Boom was going to have a hard time trying to deal with the repercussions once his parents figured it out.

Sophie ate her salad quickly and I took a few bites of my pasta. Boom added chips to his sandwich and crunched loudly on it as he bit into it.

I tried to change the topic to Sophie. "So Sophie, when were inducted?"

Sophie wiped her mouth with her napkin and folded her hands neatly in front of her. "I was given my letter about a year ago," she recalled. "For some reason, Commander Cruger decided to give everyone a lot of reading and book work that year before we could even start combat training. Wonder why."

"I'm guessing some of the students came in lacking the knowledge," Boom offered. "Wasn't Brody part of your group?"

Sophie nodded and her pigtails bounced wildly as she did. "He's still in D-Squad with me and he's not doing super well. How he managed to pass the written exams is beyond me." She turned towards me and smiled brightly. "So how were your travels? What did you see?"

I swallowed a gulp of water and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "Everything else looks about the same as it does here. The only difference is that some of them have landmarks that were built back, well way back then."

"Eiffel Tower you mean?" Boom asked.

"Yeah its still in NeoFrance," I replied. "Can't say the same for the Louvre though. All of the stuff in it was moved to a new building. Wonder why we still have some of these old things."

"To remind ourselves of the past," Sophie said as she nudged me. "We need documentation of what life was like in the past. Can't be all about the future, right?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah I guess."

"How many girls did you meet?" Boom asked.

I lowered my head and shook my head. "Not...many, really. I stayed with some host families during my travels or in youth hostels. Didn't really interact with many girls of the various countries."

"Did you study classes over there?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah but it feels like a whirlwind since I kept changing schools, languages, families...you know," I said. "But I did become fluent in Japanese and Italian while I was away."

Sophie clapped for me and Boom shook his head. "Guess that means he's too suave to hang with us Sophie."

"Never! Don't say that Boomster," I protested. "I was happy to see a familiar face for once after all these years."

Boom grinned and settled back into his chair. Sophie glanced down at her watch and sprang up with her tray. "Class starts in a few minutes," she explained. "Gotta jet!"

Boom groaned as he checked his watch and mumbled something about needing to test some new Ranger technology for Dr. Manx. He rose from his seat and picked up his tray. "...I'm also going to need to update R.I.C. soon," he mused as he carried his tray away.

I sighed as I dumped the rest of my tray and joined the rest of the staff and students exiting the cafeteria. I had nothing to do, especially since Commander Cruger had already promoted me. I wandered around the hallway for a while and read the directory to figure out how to keep myself occupied. After a few minutes, I decided to head to the gym to practice. Better to keep my skills strong if I was to become the leader of C-Squad.


End file.
